Stained Glass Panel with Saint Roch, the van Merle Family Arms and a Donor
Unknown Artist
16th century
Medium
Pot metal, white glass, vitreous paint, silver stain
Dimensions
Overall (with 2 T-bars): 82 7/8 x 29 5/16 x 3/8 in. (210.5 x 74.5 x 0.9 cm) installation opening: 80 3/4 x 28 3/4 in. (205.1 x 73 cm) a: 33 1/4 x 29 1/4 x 3/8 in. (84.5 x 74.3 x 0.9 cm) b: 34 1/4 x 29 1/4 x 3/8 in. (87 x 74.3 x 0.9 cm) c: 14 1/4 x 29 1/4 x 3/8 in. (36.2 x 74.3 x 1 cm)
Classification
Glass-Stained
Culture
German
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Duveen Brothers, 1912
Accession Number
12.216a–c
Tags
Art Historical Context
This stunning 16th-century German stained glass panel, crafted by an unknown artist, depicts Saint Roch—patron saint of plague victims—flanked by the van Merle family coat of arms and a kneeling donor figure. Towering nearly seven feet high (82 7/8 x 29 5/16 inches overall), it was likely commissioned for a church, embodying the era's fusion of piety, patronage, and heraldry. Gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Duveen Brothers in 1912, it now graces the Medieval Art department, a testament to Northern Renaissance devotion amid frequent epidemics. The artwork's historical significance ...